


Learning to Swim

by reddish



Series: The Zevrina Chronicles [8]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Flashbacks, Swimming, zevran's earring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-16
Updated: 2013-06-16
Packaged: 2017-12-15 05:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/845717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddish/pseuds/reddish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zevran taught Erina how to swim, but nobody taught either of them how to deal with emotional commitment. Zevran offers her a gift, and things fall apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning to Swim

Warm air rushed into Erina’s lungs as her head broke free of the lake’s surface. Her tired body came to life as she washed the mud, dirt, and blood off of her brown skin in the cool waters of the lake they camped near.

As she often did when swimming, she thought back to the months previously when she had waited until Leliana or Morrigan were going to bathe so she could have company. They thought it was for safety and never asked any questions. Erina had been too ashamed to tell them the truth, but Zevran had no such shame.

* * *

“Warden,” he had drawled, settling in beside her on her log near the campfire after dinner. The rest of the companions had wandered off into their own areas of camp, so there was nobody to notice the slight blush in her cheeks that faded into the light of the fire. Nobody but Zevran, but he had seen worse, or better, on her face.

“Yeah? What do you want?” she asked, returning to her task of cleaning Darkspawn blood off her boots.

“Many things,” he replied, his grinning innuendo rolling off her shoulders as harmless babble. Anything he wanted, they had already done by this point. “But I would humbly request you join me for a bath.”

Erina dropped the boot she held. “What?”

“Well, I have noticed that you prefer to bathe in the company of others, but it is only with the women. This led me to ask myself – what is she doing with the women that she cannot do with me? Now, I am fond of the touch of women and do not dare judge whatever you may be doing with them, but I would be honored to join you myself. Just the once, unless you would prefer it become a regular activity. Then perhaps I could schedule it.”

She began stammering, blushes of embarrassment, discomfort, and some anger filling her cheeks. “Zevran, what are you—I haven’t – Not with – what?”

He beamed at her, fire dancing in his golden eyes. “You do not partake in the company of the women?”

“I-- Not any of these women, no. Morrigan and I are close, but it's... different.”

Zevran’s brow furrowed. “Then why do you bathe with them?”

“Safety in numbers,” she blurted.

“Alistair bathes alone. As do I. Do you care so little for either of us?”

“No, I do. Well, I mean, I don’t really like Alistair all _that_ much, but I don’t want either of you dead.”

“So you do like me _that_ much?” Zevran’s grin grew.

Erina’s jaw ached from tension. Unable to bear his incessant curiosity, and unwilling to dig herself deeper into the shit, she lowered her voice to barely above a mumble. “I don’t know how to swim, okay?”

“What was that?” the elven man coyly tilted his head so that his ear was closer to her.

“I. Don’t. Know. How. To. Swim.”

He made a sound that resembled pain and held a hand over his heart. “Oh, my poor, beautiful Warden. What a tragic life you have led thus far.”

She glared daggers at him.

“To be locked in a tiny city, no coast, no nude sunbathers to gaze at while enjoying a sunny afternoon assassination.”

She considered grabbing real daggers. “Shut up.”

He laid a hand over hers. “Come. I will teach you.”

“Like hell am I letting an assassin get me into water when I don’t know how to swim.”

“You may bring Wrex. Certainly he has knowledge of the waters.”

Erina hesitated. The earnest joy on his face was growing increasingly difficult to reason against, a fact which brought her great consternation.

“Fine. But…” she hesitated, looking back toward the fire.

“What is it?”

Erina ground her teeth. Like hell was she going to admit she was actually afraid of water. Not to Zevran. Not to anyone. And what better way to avoid having to admit that than by conquering her fear of it? 

“Nothing,” she answered him after a moment, a hard smile on her face. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

 “Oh gods, I can’t do this,” Erina was squealing and thrashing despite Zevran’s arms locked securely around her waist.

“Sweet Warden, we are not anywhere dangerous,” Zevran assured her, though his laughter was interfering with his soothing tone.

“We are in the _water_ ; that is dangerous!” she argued. “Put me down!”

“Are you sure that’s what you want? Then you would be alone in the water.”

“No! Anything but that!”

Zevran’s laughter was overcoming him, so he pulled them closer to the shallow water. Her thrashing became squirming in his arms above the water line, which she was more familiar with. Erina took a moment to catch her breath, her cheek resting against the slick skin of Zevran’s shoulder.

“Erina,” he said quietly, voice smooth as silk. “Perhaps we should retire from this… exercise.”

“I can do this,” she insisted.

“I do not fancy being drowned this evening, even by a beautiful woman.”

“I don’t fancy drowning, either,” she grumbled against him, trying to ignore how wonderful he looked in the moonlight.

“Perhaps elves in Ferelden were not meant to swim,” Zevran sighed and clucked his tongue. “Such a tragedy.”

Erina felt fury rise from the very core of her being. “What did you say?”

Zevran set her down on her feet in the shallow water, shaking his head forlornly. “It appears to me that the elves in Ferelden have lost their touch with nature. It is a great loss.”

“Like hell,” Erina snarled as she began pushing her way further into the lake.

“Ha,” Zevran congratulated himself, watching her go forward. Without him. His eyes shot open wide in realization. “Erina, wait!”

His words reached her right as her toes suddenly lost contact with the gritty, sandy floor of the lake. A surge of panic flooded her system as she felt herself start to sink, but soon his gentle yet firm hands were at her sides, holding her steady.

“You won’t fall,” he promised.

“I know.”

“I’ve got you.”

A fierce smile broke across Erina’s face. “I know.”

* * *

Erina wrapped a towel around herself and took a seat on the ground, staring up at the bright moon over the lake. A rustle in the bushes made her jump with alarm, hand settling on the handle of a dagger in preparation.

Zevran came through the treeline, resulting in nothing more than an eyeroll and a relaxed hand.

“So stealthy,” she teased.

“So naked,” he rebutted, promptly taking a seat beside her on the lake shore. “The others were wondering where you had gone.”

“Surely they can take care of themselves for an hour?”

“Alistair and the witch are bickering, but it has not come to frog spells. Yet.”

Erina laughed, hugging the towel closer to herself as a breeze rolled over them.

“Warden, I... I have something for you.”

He sounded awkward. Uncomfortable. Nervous?

“Is it a dead body? Because I think I spent all day cleaning those up inside Denerim already.”

Zevran chuckled as his fingers fished in a small leather pouch at his belt. They returned with a small golden, bejeweled object. “No, it… well, here.” 

His fingers clumsily pushed the object into Erina’s palm, where she got a better look at it.

“An earring?” she asked. “With a green jewel of some kind? It’s… pretty, but… I don’t get it.”

“I got it from performing my first job with the Crows. A merchant prince was wearing it, and, well, I liked it. So I took it, and it has been with me ever since. Now that we have slain Taliesen and my time with the Crows has come to a close, I suppose I thought I should part with it. And who better to take it than the woman who gave me new purpose?”

Erina raised an eyebrow, suspicious. “So… just a token of… companionship?”

Zevran played, or simply was, dumb. “What else would it be?”

“I don’t know,” she answered defensively, growing increasingly uncomfortable. “I just… I thought it might be some kind of proposal, or… something else.”

“It’s just an earring,” he said, a hardness to his voice that she had never heard. “We pick up all sorts of trash everywhere we go, off everything we kill. I offer you a bit of gold, and suddenly my intentions are under scrutiny?”

“I just didn’t know how to take it, that’s all. It sounds like a very personal gift, and I just wasn’t sure…”

“If you don’t know how to take it, then don’t,” he grumbled, snatching it from her hand. “I knew this was a foolish idea. I apologize. I will leave you be.”

Zevran stood and turned to leave.

“Zevran!” Erina called after him. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you!”

“Think nothing of it,” he called over his shoulder, his carefree words sounding heavy with meaning. “I will see you in camp.”

Bewildered, Erina turned back to the lake. The towel became a small bit of stable security to hold onto as confusion wracked her brain. Was this something they needed to discuss further? Did she need to apologize? Had she read too much into that? Did she _want_ it to be something more?

“Fuck,” Erina sighed, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her forehead against them. Why were the Darkspawn so often the least of her worries?


End file.
